Reschedule confirmed! Meeting on 1/30/07

[Selena Deckelmann <selena(at)chrisking(dot)com>]

I've confirmed with FreeGeek that we have the space on January 30th.   
I know a few of you will be able to make it - please email me  
privately if you think you'll be able to come.  I'm bringing treats.

-selena

Topic:		Oceanography with PostgreSQL
Speaker: 	Bill Howe, Science and Technology Center for Coastal Margin  
Observation and Prediction (CMOP)
When: 		Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 7pm
Where:		FreeGeek, 1731 SE 10th Ave

Here's the abstract, provided by Bill:

Ocean Observatories have been aggressively funded in recent years as  
they develop and deploy a national "backbone" of integrated data  
services.  The data to be served include quality-controlled  
observations gathered from in-situ sensors and scientific cruises,  
simulation results produced by models of ocean circulation, and  
external datasets such as maps, satellite images, and fish counts.

At the Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction (CMOP),  
we are using PostgreSQL to implement the "plumbing" for managing and  
integrating these data.  In this talk, I'll describe our  
architecture, emphasizing our use of PostgreSQL's excellent  
implementation of advanced database features such as views, rules,  
and partitioned tables.  I'll also explain where and why we chose not  
to use a relational database at all.  If there is time and interest,  
I can also talk about our use of the postGIS package, which equips  
PostgreSQL with data types and functions for manipulating spatial data.

Bill recently defended his dissertation in Computer Science at  
Portland State University, presenting a language for manipulating  
simulation results in the physical sciences.  He now works at the  
Science and Technology Center for Coastal Margin Observation and  
Prediction (CMOP), housed at the OGI School of Science and  
Engineering at OHSU in Beaverton.  His research interests include  
science and engineering databases and unstructured metadata (tags,  
triples, and the like).  Before applying to graduate school, Bill  
worked as a consultant on Customer Relationship Management software  
implementations for Microsoft, Schlumberger, and various telecom  
companies.

--

After the meeting, we will retire to the Lucky Lab for beer!